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She could become first West Indian and only fourth bowler in women’s cricket to get 300 international wickets

Annesha Ghosh22-Jan-20222:28

Anisa Mohammed – ‘I like to prove people wrong’

A new variation to unleash on the opposition and four wickets to add to her tally during the four-ODI tour of South Africa.These, along with helping West Indies fine-tune their preparations ahead of the ODI World Cup in March-April, are on the checklist of their premier offspinner Anisa Mohammed as she heads into the bilateral series next week, four wickets shy of becoming the first West Indies women’s player to 300 wickets in international cricket.”I’m currently working on a new variation,” Mohammed, the leading ODI wicket-taker of 2021 and the all-time highest wicket-taker in T20Is, said in a virtual press conference from Johannesburg. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to use that in this upcoming series against South Africa, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to execute and get a positive result from that.”Behind only India’s Jhulan Goswami, England’s Katherine Brunt, and Australia’s Ellyse Perry, Mohammed, who has 171 wickets in ODIs and 125 wickets in T20Is, is hopeful the series against South Africa starting on January 28 at the Wanderers propels her to the distinction of the first spinner to reach the 300-wicket mark in the women’s international game.Related

• South Africa-West Indies Women's ODI series rescheduled, to begin from January 26

• Dane van Niekerk ruled out of 2022 Women's World Cup with ankle injury

• Afy Fletcher returns for South Africa ODIs, Qiana Joseph out injured

“This would be a huge milestone for me. I’d really like to get it in this series and not have to wait for the World Cup,” Mohammed said. “That’s something that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. I’ve been working on my game and I really hope that I’m able to pick up just four [wickets]. I’m just telling myself, ‘Four wickets – I have four matches to get four wickets,’ so I’m really excited.”A veteran of four ODI World Cups and West Indies’ most-capped player, Mohammed, 33, is mindful of the responsibility her experience and heft of personal achievements in a career spanning nearly 19 years bring with them, especially with the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand around the corner.”I’m one of the senior players on the team. This is my fifth ODI World Cup. And I’ve said to some of the younger players, ‘Playing in a World Cup the atmosphere is different and you have to keep a level head.’ I think having played four World Cups – this will be my fifth one – I have to step up as the one of the senior players on the team and try to perform and while I do that, try to keep the younger players calm and help them to be able to go out there and execute as well.”Named in the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year and the ESPNcricinfo Women’s Team of the Year for 2021 recently, Mohammed gave little away on whether the upcoming world event could be her swansong – “I’m not going to put a timeline on my career” – but admitted she was cognizant of the phase she has entered in her career.Anisa Mohammed is on the verge of joining the 300-wicket club•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“It’s a great feeling to be named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year last year,” Mohammed said. “And that’s definitely inspiration to go forward and try to make it into this year’s team as well. To be honest, I’m just trying to enjoy my cricket. As you know, I’m coming to the latter part of my career, so I’ve been trying to enjoy whatever is left of my career.”I’ll be 34 this year. I don’t know how long I have, but I just really want to make sure that when I leave cricket or when I retire, I have a good memory of West Indies cricket and representing West Indies.”West Indies were not among the five teams to earn direct qualification to the ODI World Cup but made the cut based on rankings in the wake of the pandemic-enforced cancellation of the global qualifier. They will fancy their chances against South Africa, who will be missing their designated captain and premier legspin-bowling allrounder Dane van Niekerk through an injury.”That’s a big blow for South Africa. And it’s never nice when you have an injury,” Mohammed said. “But if you’re looking at winning and losing, I think that’s an advantage for us because, as we know, she’s a key player for the South Africa team, not just in her batting and bowling but also her leadership qualities. And I think that we have to take full advantage of that – of her not being here. But having said that, I would like to wish her a speedy recovery.”Mohammed, for her part, will spearhead an attack bolstered by the addition of the experienced legspinner Afy Fletcher in their 18-member squad.”We’re really excited for Afy. It’s nice having her back,” Mohammed said of Fletcher, who is returning from a maternity break, having last played for West Indies in September 2020. “Unfortunately, she could not bring the baby with her. We would have liked to have a baby on tour, like the other teams, but she calls her baby every day and chat with him online. So it’s nice having a baby around and having some fun with him as well.”

Nathi Mthethwa has given CSA until October 27 to make a case to keep him out of their affairs

Firdose Moonda14-Oct-2020The ICC has been given notice that South Africa’s minister of sport, Nathi Mthethwa, intends to intervene in Cricket South Africa (CSA) after failing to see progress in the organisation’s attempts to stabilise its governance.Mthethwa can act according to the country’s National Sport and Recreation Act, which gives him the power to intervene “in any dispute, alleged mismanagement or other related matter that is likely to bring a sport into disrepute.” Besides, if the federation does not comply with the ministerial directive, he has the power to take away funding and to no longer recognise them as a national federation. The minister has given CSA until October 27 to make a case to keep him out of their affairs.Mthethwa’s action comes after CSA ignored the instruction by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), the umbrella-body under which all the country’s sports federations operate, for their board and executive to step aside while an investigation into CSA’s financial and governance affairs took place. CSA also did not allow SASCOC unrestricted access to their forensic report, which was used to fire former CEO Thabang Moroe, and wanted SASCOC board members to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which they refused to do.CSA has made the full report available to the minister and the parliamentary portfolio committee, who questioned CSA over the report on Tuesday. The session yielded “negative outcomes”, according to a statement by Mthethwa, who has seen no alternative but to take matters into his own hands.”Having evaluated the discussions as well as the subsequent reporting on this matter, I have now reached a point where I see no value in any further engagement with CSA,” Mthethwa said, in a statement issued on Wednesday morning.ALSO READ: South Africa opens borders but international sport remains locked downHowever, Mthethwa’s statement stressed that he would prefer not to get involved and wants to provide CSA with the chance to sort their problems out themselves. “Minister Mthethwa strongly believes that there is great merit in creating an environment where sports problems are handled within the sports movement and accordingly wishes to offer them every possible opportunity to demonstrate their stated commitment to cooperate on a way forward for cricket,” the statement read.That is important, especially when dealing with the ICC, which forbids government interference in its members. Last month, SASCOC wrote to the ICC explaining that their action did not constitute government interference because they are an independent – albeit legislatively-created body – and were not acting under ministerial directive even though they had passed a resolution indicating that they were.The National Sports and Recreation Act requires that SASCOC is the first port of call in a dispute or alleged mismanagement in any sports federation and the minister may only step-in if SASCOC fails to resolve the issue. Two weeks back, SASCOC indicated they were not making progress and asked the minister to step-in.”When the SASCOC initiative yielded no positive results, the Minister personally held several meetings with the CSA Board and also met with the Members Council,” the statement read. The most recent meeting between the minister and CSA took place on Monday. CSA were hopeful they would obtain permission from the minister to host England for a “critically important” white-ball series in November-December but appear to only have angered Mthethwa while the tour remains uncertain.The United Kingdom is on South Africa’s list of high-risk countries and travellers from there need to apply for permission to enter South Africa, whose borders opened in limited capacity only on October 1.

Adam Lyth, Tom Kohler-Cadmore fall just shy of centuries on even day in Leeds

David Hopps03-Jun-2019This is where it’s at, baby: Yorkshire and Essex duking it for supremacy. Not quite how Sir Neville Cardus would have put it, admittedly, but when the World Cup is in full flow, and England are involved in a troubled run chase, the Championship needs to go full-on Iggy Pop, the grandfather of punk, to grab even a tiny share of attention.While the World Cup understandably dominates attention over the next month or so, the Championship will take shape. Surely Somerset will never have a better chance of winning county cricket’s premier tournament for the first time than this year. As for Yorkshire and Essex, they are still not sure what their seasons will deliver. The next three days will reveal much. The winner, if there is to be one, may be pleasantly surprised by their lofty position come Thursday evening.An even first day has left us none the wiser about which side might prosper. Yorkshire were dominant just after tea at 224 for 2 with the prospect of hundreds for both Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, but Simon Harmer’s tightly-engineered off-spin held Essex together, as it must, and neither hundred materialised as Yorkshire lost four wickets for 28 in 13 overs and they came to rest at 289 for 6.David Willey, omitted from England’s World Cup squad, was one of those wickets, leg before as he propped forward at Harmer. It’s fair to say that as he walked off you would not have been tempted to bottle the air around him and sell it as a Happiness Potion.Headingley’s World Cup matches are still to come, of course, and they will be enhanced by the magnificent new Emerald Stand, which will remain empty for this match while a few final touches are carried out but which gleams virginal white between the cricket and rugby sections of the ground. The decrepit old stand where the sun never dared intrude has been replaced by something more uplifting. People may even be caught smiling.It is a grand development – £43m worth, of which Yorkshire’s share was £18m – and brings a sense of beauty to a ground that once upon a time only admired beauty in a Geoffrey Boycott defensive push, Fred Trueman’s outswinger or Brian Close’s bruised forehead and where most of the cognoscenti would have probably dismissed Keats’ Grecian Urn as something you couldn’t rightly sup out of.But their Lust for Life, as Iggy once put it, centres proudly around the County Championship and there was much to sharpen their interest: a debutant batsman, and from Huddersfield, too; signs in Kohler-Cadmore’s 83 that has game is maturing nicely; a condemnatory statistic about Yorkshire opening stands that just will not go away; and an Essex wicketkeeping crisis, not that they would admit to being too interested in that.The debutant opener was Will Fraine, who moved from Nottinghamshire in the middle of last season, and whose father is a senior figure in an ice cream company that is one of Yorkshire’s major sponsors. His 39 from 69 balls was not quite the indulgence promised by the Idaho Valley Mint flavour, but was a sober affair, prospering largely through learned steers through backward point, head determinedly over ball, enough to satisfy the members on first sight. Sam Cook brought one back to bowl him through the gate.Fraine is the latest player to try to address some very un-Yorkshire shortcomings at the top of the order. According to the Yorkshire specialist Graham Hardcastle, it is 20 matches since they have managed a hundred stand for the first wicket in first-class cricket when Shaun Marsh and Kohler-Cadmore did so against Surrey at The Kia Oval; there again, they were responding to 529.The fact that such a skilful player as Lyth has routinely been one of those openers makes it an even more unlikely statistic. Lyth did his share of playing and missing in making 95, but otherwise had few alarms, his most uncertain moment perhaps coming on 17 when he edged Cook just in front of second slip.Lyth was also involved in the run out of Gary Ballance, who is searching for a century in six successive Yorkshire matches. Len Hutton once made a hundred for Yorkshire in seven successive matches, although that sequence was interrupted by England calls. It was an avoidable run out, a casual first run being followed by joint uncertainty over the second, Sam Cook’s throw from square leg doing the rest.Lyth could barely have succumbed more to self-blame had he walked home in bare feet wearing a placard saying ‘Stone Me’. “It was my fault,” he said. “It’s not great when you run the best batsman in the country out. I can’t honestly tell you how awful it felt. I can’t apologise enough. He said he would forgive me if I got 150 so he hasn’t forgiven me.”England might only have eyes for the World Cup at the moment, but the Ashes will soon be here and in these parts they are adamant that Ballance, defiantly playing as deep in the crease as ever, should be part of them. Lyth’s excessive self-blame proved as much.Lyth’s departure to a defensive push at Jamie Porter soon after tea gave Will Buttleman the first of two simple catches – he also held Kohler-Cadmore’s attempted drive – to adorn his emergency uptake of the keeping gloves after Robbie White injured an ankle in training, so ending his loan spell from Middlesex; he came in on debut against Hampshire last season, too, when Adam Wheater was injured midway through a match.Michael Pepper damaged a finger against Kent last week, soon after returning from an appendix operation and Wheater, the senior man, is a long-term absentee with a badly-broken finger. They said it would be difficult replacing James Foster, but nobody said it would be downright dangerous.

The seamer took 4 for 46 after Apoorv Wankhade’s unbeaten 157 swelled Vidarbha’s total to 800 for 7, the highest total in the Irani Cup history

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2018
PTI

After Vidarbha declared at 800 for 7 – the highest total in the Irani Cup – seamer Rajneesh Gurbani sliced through Rest of India’s batting line-up to help his side take a step closer to another title. At stumps on the fourth day, RoI were 236 for 6 and 564 runs in arrears.Apoorv Wankhade, unbeaten on 99 overnight, completed his second first-class hundred to swell Vidarbha’s total. Mayank Agarwal had the other overnight batsman Aditya Sarwate stumped for 18 and Hanuma Vihari took a return catch to remove Akshay Wakhare for a duck, but Wankhade and Gurbani forged an unbroken 56-run partnership in seven overs to propel their team to 800.There was not much respite for RoI even after the declaration. Gurbani, who had become only the second bowler to register a hat-trick in a Ranji Trophy final, continued his excellent form. He struck with his second ball to have R Samarth caught at midwicket for a duck and Umesh Yadav had the in-form Agarwal caught at first slip with an inviting outswinger for 11 in the seventh over. RoI recovered briefly with Prithvi Shaw’s crisp back-foot strokes and a six over wide long-on in his 51 off 64 but Aditya Thakare, Shaw’s Under-19 team-mate from the World Cup in New Zealand, had him caught at gully.Once Gurbani returned, he induced an outside edge off Karun Nair’s bat and struck the top of the off stump with a sharp inswinger when Srikar Bharat shouldered arms, for a two-ball duck. In Gurbani’s next over, R Ashwin tentatively pushed at a delivery outside off and handed a catch to first slip for 8 and RoI were in tatters at 98 for 6 with a massive deficit of 702 runs.But Vihari and Jayant put on an unbroken 138-run stand for the seventh wicket to give their team some breathing space. Vihari hit 10 fours in his unbeaten 81 while Jayant struck nine fours in his unbeaten 62.Even if Vidarbha fail to bowl RoI out twice, they have a strong chance of securing the Irani Cup by virtue of a first-innings lead.

Imran Haider, the legspinner, took four wickets in his second ODI to help United Arab Emirates record a six-wicket win over Hong Kong in their tri-series fixture in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2017
Scorecard
Shaiman Anwar steered UAE home with his seventh ODI half-century•Peter Della Penna

Imran Haider, the legspinner, took four wickets in his second ODI to help United Arab Emirates record a six-wicket win over Hong Kong in their tri-series fixture in Dubai on Thursday. UAE got to their target of 175 in 38.1 overs to finish the series on top of the points table.Hong Kong were put in to bat and lost wickets in clumps, tottering at one stage at 85 for 5. Nizakat Khan, the No. 4 batsman, held the lower order together in making a 111-ball 93 including seven fours and three sixes. Nizakat’s 67-run stand for the eighth wicket with Ehsan Nawaz, who made 11, was the highest of the innings which folded in the penultimate over.Haider removed Babar Hayat, the Hong Kong captain, and Shahid Wasif for ducks. At one stage, he had three wickets in as many overs; he eventually finished with 4 for 25 off his 10 overs to take his wickets tally to seven in two matches.UAE started solidly courtesy a 76-run opening stand between Rohan Mustafa and Mohammed Qasim, before losing three quick wickets – two of which were picked up by Ehsan Khan, the offspinner. Shaiman Anwar then took charge to make a half-century to take UAE to within 27 runs of victory before giving Ehsan his third wicket. Muhammad Usman (20 not out) and Mohammad Naveed (9 not out) then saw the chase through.

Stuart Broad has been fined 30% of his match fee for telling umpire Aleem Dar to “just get on with the game” during the fourth day of the Newlands Test

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jan-2016Stuart Broad has been fined 30% of his match fee for telling umpire Aleem Dar to “just get on with the game” during the fourth day of the Newlands Test.The incident happened the 195th over of South Africa’s innings after Dar had warned England captain Alastair Cook about Broad damaging the pitch when he kicked at it in frustration following a dropped catch by Jonny Bairstow which reprieved Temba Bavuma.Broad was charged with a Level 1 offence under the ICC code of conduct. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charge which meant Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee, conducted a hearing where he found Broad guilty.For all first offences, Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50% of a player’s match fee.

On the evidence of Shane Watson and Chirs Rogers’ opening union at New Road, this might just become another triumph out of the chaos

The Report by Daniel Brettig at New Road02-Jul-2013
ScorecardShane Watson and Chris Rogers put on 170 opening the batting together for the first time•Getty Images

Australia’s last great opening pair of Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden were unearthed only when Michael Slater was dropped for a combination of poor form and wayward behaviour. Twelve years later, Shane Watson and Chris Rogers have been thrown together as the most visible on-field consequence of David Warner’s suspension and Darren Lehmann’s arrival as coach. On the evidence of their opening union at New Road, this might just become another triumph out of the chaos.Even if the modesty of Worcestershire’s attack is accounted for, Watson made batting look easy during his domineering century before lunch and Rogers provided an immediately reassuring sight at the other end. Their first stand tallied 170 in all, precisely half of the Australians’ 340 before rain brought an early conclusion to a chilly day. Fluency came less easily to Ed Cowan and the captain Michael Clarke, though both passed 50 before falling prey to run-outs.Having wrought similar destruction in his first match restored to the top of the batting order against Somerset, Watson crashed the Worcs bowlers to all parts of the ground without ever looking like he was taking undue risks. Tellingly, it was Watson’s first hundred at first-class level since his most recent Test century, against India at Mohali in October 2010. The confidence imbued by Lehmann’s decision to publicly announce him as an Ashes opener as early as last week in Taunton has returned Watson to something like his imperious best.Rogers played with far less extravagance, but appeared an ideal partner, rotating the strike and leaving the ball with precision. Their unbeaten stand meant that Cowan, made redundant as an opening batsman after 18 months in the job, remained padded up in the tourists’ viewing area for the whole of the morning.When he did appear following Watson’s exit, Cowan found the going altogether more difficult, confirming the impression that he will struggle to impose himself on a bowling attack, a skill usually expected of a No. 3. Any hard decisions about the shape of Australia’s batting line-up can be expected to be made this week. Along with Lehmann and Rod Marsh, the national selector John Inverarity is also in Worcester, ready to submit his casting vote if required.A correct call at the toss by Clarke had given the visitors first use of a friendly, even-paced surface. This allowed Rogers and Watson to commence the opening partnership identified by Clarke and Lehmann as Australia’s best means by which to blunt England’s new-ball battery next week at Nottingham and beyond.

World-leaders … in run-outs

Australia’s unwholesome penchant for run-outs was on display again against Worcestershire, maintaining perhaps the only trend in which they have been world leaders over the past four years.
Since the start of the 2009 Ashes series in England, Australia players have been run out in Tests no fewer than 25 times, the most in the world by a margin of five. While Ricky Ponting was the most frequent transgressor with five during the period, Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes and Ed Cowan have all been caught short twice.
At New Road the causes were variable, as ever. Michael Clarke was called through by Cowan for a tight single and found short by a direct hit. Cowan stumbled and fell in mid-pitch, leaving him no chance to beat a throw from cover.
Watson is no expert on successful running, but agreed such details would be critical to the outcome of the Ashes. “It’s certainly a tough enough job to bat for long periods of time let alone giving the opposition one or two wickets,” he said. “We can’t afford to have our better batsmen run out.”

Wearing the Australia coat of arms for the first time since his one Test match in 2008, Rogers began a little nervously. He was perilously close to falling lbw to Charles Morris, making his first-class debut for Worcs, and his first few runs were snicked rather than struck. But Australia have employed Rogers for his record of making consistent runs, not the manner in which they arrive, and he was soon finding his stride, scoring at a steady trot with the occasional edge here and there.Watson had not taken part in the Australians’ second innings against Somerset, following a brazen 90 on day two that expressed his joy at returning to the top of the order more succinctly than any interview could. He continued on his merry way, gliding the first ball of the match to the backward point boundary and thereafter playing his shots with complete conviction, bordering on disdain.Several of Watson’s drives scorched through fields that did not have time to move, while the left-armer Jack Shantry had one delivery deposited beyond the sight screen with rare crispness – his preference for around the wicket provided Watson with an amiable angle by which to flick through the leg side. It was with one such stroke that Watson reached three figures, drawing strong applause from a plentiful crowd and warm congratulations from his new batting partner.The afternoon did not quite find Watson in the same flowing form of the morning, and he added only another seven runs to his lunch tally before swinging an offbreak by Moeen Ali to deep-backward square leg. Rogers reached 50 and continued on with increasing certainty, making it a surprise when he popped an off-side catch from a leading edge off Shantry.Cowan clattered one six off Moeen but was otherwise circumspect, while Clarke negotiated his first ball with a thick inside edge and had trouble locating the middle of his bat for some time. Together they negotiated 38 balls without a run during the hour before tea. The sequence was broken by a fortunate Clarke boundary, edged wide of the slip cordon, but both batsmen would fall short of the substantial scores they desired.Clarke was short of his ground when the stumps were hit from square leg by Alexei Kervezee. It appeared Cowan’s call, and Clarke looked notably miffed to depart in such a manner. Cowan followed his captain to the pavilion a little more than five overs later, stumbling in mid-pitch to turn a tight-ish run into an ignominious exit.Steve Smith and Phillip Hughes did not have much time to get established before the showers arrived, but they were batting in such a comfortable scenario because Watson and Rogers had excelled in the morning. England will be taking note.

The ICC’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur in June is where India and Pakistan could take significant steps towards the resumption of cricketing ties, with even the possibility of the announcement of a series, according to PCB chief Zaka Ashraf

Sharda Ugra30-May-2012The ICC’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur in June is where India and Pakistan could take significant steps towards the resumption of cricketing ties, with even the possibility of the announcement of a series, according to PCB chief Zaka Ashraf.Ashraf is in Delhi for a few days after attending the IPL final (to which he was invited by the BCCI) in Chennai, and he told ESPNcricinfo, “Probably the final decision will be [taken] in Kuala Lumpur, where the ICC board of directors meeting will be held. There Mr Srinivasan and I will hold discussions, and maybe we will be able to formulate and announce something about the resumption of ties.”He denied that the two parties had already discussed or suggested a tentative schedule for a bilateral series during a gap in England’s winter tour of India, when the England team will return home for a Christmas break. “The BCCI haven’t conveyed that to us. What we see on the calendar is that the English team will continue to play matches. But that is now up to the BCCI, the ball is in their court. They have to think which slab is available, where there is a vacuum during which both of us can play. What we can play, what format … they have to take steps and let us know.”During his stay in Delhi on what was his first visit to India, Ashraf said he had met with the Pakistani high commissioner to India, Salman Bashir, and political leaders of several parties, ruling and opposition, whose names he did not wish to reveal.India and Pakistan have not played each other in a bilateral series since December 2007. It is India’s turn to tour Pakistan, but the country has not hosted an international series between two Full Members at home following the Lahore terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in March 2009. Bilateral ties between India and Pakistan have been frozen since the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Pakistan, however, travelled to India to play in the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup.On the day that an unofficial lunch meeting took place between Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari in April, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla had told Pakistani channel that the participation of Pakistan players in the IPL would depend on bilateral ties between the two nations.Ashraf said his discussions with BCCI president N Srinivasan had not touched upon the participation of Pakistan players in the IPL much. “I didn’t discuss the IPL, because it was more of a commercial thing. I was talking to the BCCI more on the revival of cricketing relations – on bilateral ties, because that is more important. If they feel like inviting Pakistani players [to the IPL], it is up to them. If they want to, I think that will be a good move also.”The participation of the Sialkot Stallions in the Champions League T20 was however confirmed by Ashraf. News of the decision to invite the team from Pakistan to the most lucrative club competition in world cricket was released on Twitter by Sundar Raman, a member of the CLT20 technical committee, but it is yet to be formally announced. Similarly Raman announced on Twitter that the dates for the Champions League T20 would only be released by the end of June. Ashraf, who had talked about the resumption of ties with Srinivasan on the side of ICC meetings in Dubai, said he had been asked for his approval for the Sialkot Stallions not once but twice by Srinivasan.”He called me once from India about 15-20 days ago to discuss the Champions League T20, saying the issue [of Pakistani participation] has come to the board and ‘if we decide in favour of Pakistan do you have any objection’. And I said no, of course not, I am always in favour of ties. So after the meeting he called me and said ‘I’m going to the press to announce it. Finally I just want to ask, I hope you don’t any objections’. I said our board and our people are also for the revival of ties of cricketing relations, Test series, one-day and Twenty20 games.” Ashraf said the news of the invitation extended to the Sialkot Stallions had been welcomed “in the press, by the general public and the board. At least the ice is melting. And things are moving in the right direction.”The meeting between the Indian prime minister and the Pakistani president had been important, because it indicated that the Indian government had no objections to the resumption of cricketing between the two countries. “What I understand is that, again, the honourable president of Pakistan requested that the honourable prime minister of India do something, so that India-Pakistan cricket could be revived. He [the Indian prime minister] said, ‘Yes, I’m for it, the government has no objection and we are going to convey it to the [Indian] board. The board should decide the other questions … when and where they should play, because those are the nitty-gritty details.’ “Ashraf said that he had kept aside an extra day after the IPL final to have an extended meeting with Srinivasan. However, the extended meetings could not take place because Srinivasan had to be admitted to hospital during the IPL final for observation. “He never used to smile, but he was smiling then [when Ashraf visited him in hospital],” Ashraf joked. “He was very happy that I went. That showed that brotherly relations between the boards are developing.”He came across goodwill in general, he said, on his visit to India. “I found that everybody in India has got good feelings about Pakistan and they all want cricket to resume between these two great cricketing nations. There’s great cricket passion in India, like there is in Pakistan. I brought with me, to the people of India and Indian cricket fans, the warmth and feelings of Pakistani cricket fans. This visit is like a friendship message from both the nations to each other.”

Netherlands and Scotland will face off in a series of matches across different formats starting with the four-day Intercontinental Cup fixture on June 24 in Aberdeen, followed by two ODIs and as many Twenty20s

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-2011Netherlands and Scotland will face off in a series of matches across different formats starting with the four-day Intercontinental Cup fixture on June 21 in Aberdeen, followed by two ODIs and as many Twenty20s.Netherlands last played international cricket in the 2011 World Cup, in which they failed to win a single game. They’ll be missing some players due to work and other commitments, but will have Alexei Kervezee in their ranks for the first ODI and star allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate for the second ODI and the Twenty20s.”The squads are well balanced with plenty of experience,” Netherlands coach Peter Drinnen said. “The World Twenty20 qualifiers are not far away and with increased depth in our squad, the players are keen to seize every opportunity to secure their spot.”Netherlands squads:
Intercontinental Cup: Peter Borren (c), Wesley Barresi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari , Tom Cooper , Tom Whol , Tom Heggelman , Neil Kruger, Matthijs Luten, Ahsan Malik, Peter Seelaar , Eric Szwarczynski , Michael Swart, Berend WestdijkFirst ODI: Peter Borren (c), Wesley Barresi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth, Tom Heggelman, Alexei Kervezee, Neil Kruger, Ahsan Malik, Pieter Seelaar , Eric Szwarczynski, Michael Swart, Berend WestdijkSecond ODI: Peter Borren (c), Wesley Barresi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari , Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom de Grooth, Tom Heggelman, Neil Kruger, Ahsan Malik, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Szwarczynski, Michael Swart, Berend WestdijkTwenty20s: Peter Borren (c), Wesley Barresi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom de Grooth, Tom Heggelman, Neil Kruger, Ahsan Malik, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Szwarczynski, Michael Swart, Berend Westdijk

Paul Condon, the outgoing chief of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), has said there is uncertainty over whether or not there was any match-fixing involved in the first and second editions of the IPL

Cricinfo staff20-May-2010Paul Condon, the outgoing chief of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), has said it worried about the first two IPL seasons not because it suspected match-fixing but because of the lack of infrastructure to prevent it. He said the third edition held this year was a clean event largely due to the heavy involvement of the ACSU.”IPL 1 and 2 we were worried about, not because we think there were huge fixes, but because there was no infrastructure to prevent it,” Condon said at Lord’s on Thursday. “That doesn’t mean to say that matches were fixed in IPL 1 and 2, but nor can I, hand on heart, give it a clean bill of health. I just don’t know .”Our advice was, and remains, that if you are going to have world-class players, international players, who are playing in IPLs and Twenty20s, and if they do anything daft there, sadly they will take that back into the international game. You can’t be a part-time fixer, once the bad guys get into them, and a lot of them are organised criminals, then you are on the hook.”While Condon acknowledged he had heard rumours of spot-fixing in the third IPL season, he said there was no concrete evidence to suggest that was the case. “In IPL 3, the ACSU was heavily involved, there was an education programme, and we’ve got no current intelligence, or information, or ongoing enquiries, which suggest anything other than IPL3 was a clean event in terms of spot-fixing.”IPL 3 from a clean cricket point of view seems to have been a very good event, but you are never more than a phonecall away from someone saying otherwise. There were rumours and vague allegations about IPL3, but no one has come forward either from the Indian board, or IPL, or franchises, or journalists, or players, or team managers, or anyone with specific allegations about match-fixing in IPL. All it’s been is very generic rumour, and we’re still waiting.”Condon said it was essential to prevent any possibility of match-fixing in leagues like the IPL to ensure the problem didn’t spread to the international arena. “To keep the game clean, we’ve got to make sure that events like the IPL and other events like it, don’t contaminate international cricket. So the same regime works for IPL: education, security managers in place.”